Gov. Doug Ducey walks on stage to take his oath of office at the state Capitol courtyard on Jan. 5, 2015. (Photo by Emily Johnson)As Gov. Doug Ducey takes office, his inauguration represents a continuation of the past administration's failed policies and a potential reversal of its most successful ones.
In 2000, voters passed Proposition 301, which mandated that school funding be annually adjusted for inflation. During a period of budget shortfalls during the great recession, the state withheld funding in an effort to balance the budget. Following school budget cuts, the schools sued the state for the money the voters had given them.
In 2014, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the state had illegally withheld funds from the school districts and that the state must adjust funding to school districts to make up for the money that was withheld. Instead of accepting the court’s ruling and providing Arizona's students with the funding they deserve, Ducey has indicated that he will continue to appeal the ruling to reduce the budget burden to the state. According to an article published by The Arizona Republic following one of last year’s gubernatorial debates, “Ducey backs the plan of Republican legislative leaders to appeal the court ruling that the state needs to hike the base funding to schools by $317 million this year and by a similar amount in future years.”
Read the opposing opinion, "Doug Ducey can make this century Arizona’s greatest" here.
The payments to the school districts could cost the state $1.6 billion over the next five years. While the money owed to the schools would clearly place a burden on the state's budget, the voters decided that they wanted to prioritize school funding and Ducey now has an obligation to give our children the funding they deserve. According to a report by the National Education Association, Arizona ranks 51st in per student expenditures for public K-12 schools. In order for Arizona to regain its competitiveness nationally, the state must improve its public school system, but withholding funding from our students isn’t the way to improve.
Despite being endorsed by outgoing Gov. Jan Brewer, Ducey has already shown that he may not be willing to defend the most successful parts of the former administration's agenda.
In late 2014, the state Legislature announced its intention to sue Brewer over her decision to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act. The Medicaid expansion has been responsible for providing insurance to 300,000 Arizonans. According to The Arizona Republic, the rise in the number of insured people has led to a reduction in the amount of uncompensated care hospitals provide. Following the expansion of Medicaid, hospitals reported “uncompensated care of $170 million through the first four months of the year, down from $246 million over the same period one year earlier.”
Like leaders of many other states, Brewer made the fiscally responsible choice to accept funding to expand Medicaid. According to an ABC News report, Ducey “opposed the expansion but has said he didn't intend to push for its immediate repeal, would not say Wednesday if he would drop the battle and let the program end. He has said that he thought Brewer's embrace of a straight expansion was a mistake.” It would be unfathomable for Ducey to not defend the expansion in court and allow the legislature to take health insurance away from so many Arizonans.
The first major challenge Ducey will face is his state budget proposal, which he must deliver on Jan. 16. According to an article published by Reuters covering Ducey’s inauguration, “Arizona is on course to end this fiscal year with a $520 million deficit, and be saddled with a $1 billion shortfall by the end of the 2016 fiscal year”
The article goes on to say, “With taxes off the table, spending cuts remain as the main way to try and narrow the budget gap.” Unfortunately, without any revenue increases, the only way to balance the budget will be to cut services. Ducey hasn’t made any comments about what services he’ll cut, but the mathematical reality is that serious cuts will have to be made.
The next four to eight years will be tough for Arizona under Ducey’s leadership. The people of Arizona can expect a continuation of the decline in our public school performance and the services that they depend on to disappear.
Reach the columnist at zjosephs@asu.edu or follow @zachjosephson on Twitter.
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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